Harry Potter 1. Chapter 1

One.

**A/N:**_ Okay, so this is my first ever HP fanfic I've ever written, so apologies if this is OOC in places and if I haven't quite got some bits right. Also, just a quick warning that there might be long periods between updates, as I have two other fics on the go too!_

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><p>Remus slowly began to make his way down the packed corridor towards his classroom. Crowds of students were flowing past him in all kinds of directions, dressed in their black robes and house coloured ties, wands and books clutched in their hands. He smiled to himself, looking around to admire the sight of the inside of the castle around him as he walked. <em>Nope, this place hasn't changed a bit<em>, he thought to himself cheerfully. It was early evening, so all of the students and teachers were heading down to the hall to get seats at their tables for the welcoming feat and before the sorting began, where afterwards they'd head to their offices and common rooms. Personally, Remus had thought it a good idea to familiarise himself with his surroundings, (not that he really needed it much, he noted to himself) starting off with his office and the classroom that he'd be using to teach in. He'd already got his belongings sorted out in his office, as that was the first place he'd been to after he'd arrived at Hogwarts and been addressed by Dumbledore.

Carefully shifting one half his small pile of belongings that he didn't need in his office from one arm into the other, Remus pulled his wand out of his pocket, pointed it at the doorknob and muttered 'Alohomora'. The door unlocked with a click and Remus quickly slid his wand back into his pocket again. He pushed the door open and stepped inside what was now his classroom, clutching onto his possessions tightly to prevent them from falling out of his grip and onto the floor. He strolled over his desk and put them down, smiling. It felt incredibly weird to him that the very room that he'd taken Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons in when he used to be a student himself, was now his. Everything about the room had only changed the slightest bit, a small remainder of Gilderoy Lockheart's layout left over from when he'd been there in June.

Remus sat down on the chair behind his desk, pulling his wand out again and waving it. His belongings placed themselves in various spots around the room, making him smile even more. Even after all these years, Hogwarts still felt like home to him. As he looked around his classroom, he couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. He could remember the lessons _he'd_ had in here as a student with James, Sirius and Peter. The four of them together seemed to attract trouble like a magnet, and Remus couldn't help but laugh at some of the memories that flooded his brain at that moment. He felt the wave of sadness come over him again, as these memories just reminded him of the painful period after Lily, James and Peter had died. He'd lost three of his best friends that day, and he'd been betrayed by another one. In a way, he was glad that he'd managed to share a carriage with Harry on the train, as he was so similar to his parents that Remus felt as if parts of their spirits were living on in their thirteen year old son.

_No, now isn't the time to get all nostalgic_, he reminded himself. Sighing deeply, Remus stood up and walked out of the classroom, locking the door behind him. He made his way down the corridors, where students were still heading down to the Great Hall. He walked at a slight distance between a pack of three girls, who were excitedly giggling and chatting, gesturing wildly with their hands, quite clearly talking about what they'd been up to over the summer. The girl in the middle was rather tall, with poker straight, bright blonde hair that hung just below her waist. On her left was a girl who had short, bright red hair, and was about a head shorter than the blonde girl. She was currently speaking, and had a thick Irish accent. The third girl, walking on the blonde haired one's right, was slightly taller than the redhead and had long, shiny dark brown hair. Remus couldn't help laughing silently to himself, as this group of girls reminded him of the jokes that Muggles frequently told about blondes, redheads and brunettes together.

A few seconds later, they reached the double doors that lead them inside the Great Hall. Remus couldn't help but feel nervous, and he tried to neaten himself up a little bit before the girls in front of him pushed the doors open. When the girls had gone inside, Remus pushed the doors open himself and stepped into the Great Hall, slightly surprised that each of the long tables were only just over half filled with students sat in their seats. Nervously, he walked up the aisle in the middle towards the table where the staff were sat. His eyes flickered around the hall, but he couldn't help his attention being caught by that same bright blonde haired girl who had been walking in front of him mere moments ago, who was sat at the Hufflepuff table. Trying to keep a serious, yet friendly expression on his face, he averted his eyes away and eventually reached the staff table. He was greeted firstly by Dumbledore shaking his hand and smiling, then the rest of the staff politely saying their hellos.

Remus sat himself down on the empty chair between Flitwick and Hagrid, relaxing a little bit. Flitwick gave Remus a pleasant smile when he sat down, and they began to happily catch up over what had happened to them over the past seventeen years. There was a moment of sadness between the two men when the subject of Lily and James came up, but the subject was quickly changed. Soon, their conversation was interrupted by the new First Years entering the Great Hall and lining up to be sorted. Both students and teachers fell into a hushed silence as the Sorting Hat was placed on top of the small, wooden stool and all eyes turned to the crowd of incredibly nervous-looking First Years. Moments later, the Hat burst into song. When it had finished, everyone in the hall erupted into applause.

The Sorting then began, and the long line soon dwindled down to a small cluster of new students whose surnames were at the end of the alphabet. Just after the last student had been Sorted, the doors opened again. Almost everyone turned around to get a look at who was late, and Remus wasn't surprised to find that it was Harry Potter and the bushy-haired girl who was sat in the compartment on the train with them, closely followed by Minerva McGonagall. Embarrassed, Harry and the girl sat down at the Gryffindor table next to the youngest of the Weasley boys and Minerva made her way up to the staff table, where she sat down at an empty seat next to Dumbledore.

When everyone seemed to have settled down again, Dumbledore stood up, clearing his throat. 'Welcome!' He exclaimed. 'Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you all become befuddled by our excellent feast..' He looked around the hall and cleared his throat again. 'As you all will be aware,' he continued, 'after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business.' He paused for a moment, clearly not very happy about having Dementors on school grounds. 'They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds, and while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody leaves school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises - or even Invisibilty Cloaks. It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I look to the Prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs foul of the Dementors.' Dumbledore paused again, looking around the hall with a serious expression on his face.

'On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.' He smiled. 'Firstly, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.' He gestured to Remus, who stood up slightly and smiled at the four tables full of teenagers in front of him. He had a warm, pleasant feeling of happiness in his stomach when he received a small amount of applause, until he turned his head slightly where he saw Severus Snape giving him a look of pure hatred that made Remus' blood run cold. He decided not to give Severus the satisfaction of returning the look, but instead looked away and politely clapped along with everyone else as Dumbledore announced Rubeus Hagrid as the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

Thankfully, the food then appeared and everyone tucked in. Even as Remus was eating his own food, he couldn't help his eyes wondering multiple times over to the Hufflepuff table where the blonde-haired girl was sat, deep in conversation with her two friends that she'd been with earlier on. One of them must've seen him looking, as they whispered something to her and she looked up, making eye contact with him. Remus smiled awkwardly at her, before looking away and down at his plate. For some odd reason, he didn't know why he felt so drawn to her.


	2. Chapter 2

Two.

I slowly made my way out of the carriage and off of the train, my trunk and Sacha, my tawny owl, in my hands. I stepped out onto the platform, waiting behind for a moment for my two best friends to appear. 'Aurelia!' I heard Kate's thick Irish accent call. I turned my head to try to locate the sound of her voice, my almost platinum blonde hair swishing and tickling my back. After a couple of seconds of searching, I could see her running towards me, Nat in tow. 'You two took your time!' I laughed, the three of us walking towards the carriages behind a crowd of Ravenclaw Fourth Years. 'Yeah, well.. If you hadn't been in such a bloody rush to get off the train, then you wouldn't have had to wait, would you?' Nat replied cheekily. I shot her a mock-offended look, laughing even more.

Nat, Kate and I had been best friends since we were First Years, and I didn't regret a single moment of the magical, hilarious five years that I'd spent with them both. All three of us were sixteen now, just starting our sixth year at Hogwarts. Appearance and background-wise, we were all strikingly different, but we had _so _much in common with regards to our personalities. I was very tall, with waist length blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes, and I was Muggle-born. Kate was at least a head shorter than me, with bright red hair (when I say red, I mean the _colour_ red, not ginger.. How the hell she'd got away with dying it that colour I didn't even know!) and almond shaped green eyes. She was a half-blood, her mum was a witch and her dad a Muggle. Finally, Nat was around the same height, if not slightly taller, than Kate. She had thick, glossy dark brown hair that just touched her shoulders and piercing blue eyes. She too was a half-blood, except her mum was a Muggle and her dad was a Wizard. The three of us all had a slightly strange sense of humour, and we all tended to be quite loud when we wanted to be.

The three of us piled into a carriage, placing our trunks down on the floor and keeping our animals on our laps. 'That Dementor attack was terrible, wasn't it?' I said, absent-mindedly playing with my yellow and black striped tie. 'Yeah, it was..' Kate replied, stiffening slightly where she was sat. Nat didn't say anything, just shuddered and looked down at her feet. 'I heard that Harry Potter fainted!' Kate exclaimed, sounding slightly worried. 'Really? I would've thought that he was the one scaring them off,' I raised my eyebrows, surprised. Nat looked up again, squirming uncomfortably. She was never one to talk about things like that, so Kate and I decided to end the conversation there. 'So, who d'you think the new DADA teacher is, then?' Nat asked, her voice wavering slightly. 'Dunno,' I shrugged. 'It'd better be someone decent this year, Lockheart was crap!' 'Oi! No he wasn't!' Nat protested, folding her arms defensively. 'You would say that, cause you fancied the pants off of him!' I glanced at Kate, to find that she was smirking, quite clearly trying incredibly hard not to laugh. Much to our delight, Nat's face turned the colour of Kate's hair. A devilish look appeared in Kate's eye and she grinned, putting on a high pitched voice. 'Ooh, Professor Lockheart! I still don't know what's going to come up in the OWL, can I have some extra lessons with you?' Nat's face turned an even brighter shade of red and Kate and I began to howl with laughter, tears streaming down our faces. 'I hate you two,' Nat grumbled, making Kate and I laugh even more. 'Y-Yeah, you _say_ that..' I giggled.

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><p>Just as we'd managed to stop laughing, the carriages stopped outside the castle. Nat still had a bit of a scowl on her face, but overall the three of us were in very good moods. We left our pets and trunks in the carriages as usual, ready for them to be taken up to our dormitory whilst we were at the Welcoming Feast. I smiled happily to myself as we walked inside the castle, school felt like my second home to me. I loved my proper home back in London and my parents were always incredibly loving and welcoming towards me, but there was something about Hogwarts that filled my heart with happiness simply at the thought of it. We slowly made our way down the corridors and through into the foyer, chatting about what we'd been doing over the summer in an awful lot more detail than we had on the train. Eventually, we reached the double doors to the Great Hall. We stopped talking for a moment and Nat pushed the doors open, the three of us quickly walking inside. We walked over to the Hufflepuff table and sat down, waiting for everyone else who was on the train (aside from the First Years, of course) to hurry up. Thankfully, the hall soon filled up within a few minutes and the Sorting started.<p>

Once the Sorting ceremony had ended and everyone was seated, Professor Dumbledore stood up and began to speak to us about how Dementors would be guarding the school. I felt Nat grab onto my arm and squeeze it hard until Dumbledore eventually stopped talking. However, the terrified looks on everyone's faces turned into curiosity as we knew that the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher was about to be announced to us. After a comfortable pause, Dumbledore spoke again. 'On a happier note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year.' He smiled. 'Firstly, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.' A tallish man who was wearing shabby-looking robes stood up slightly and smiled, looking around the hall at all of us. I wasn't sat too far away from the staff table, so I could clearly see that he looked very young, but his brown hair was streaked with grey. He looked quite tired too, and I noticed that he had several scars on his face. I wasn't quite sure how, but I found him quite attractive looking. However, as soon as I'd thought about this I mentally gave myself a shake. _No, he's your teacher.. Nothing would come out of it anyway, it's wrong,_ I thought to myself and I turned back to Nat and Kate, who were busy clapping along with the rest of the school to the news that Hagrid was now the Care of Magical Creatures teacher as well as the school's gamekeeper.

As soon as dinner appeared, I put all of my energy into eating and chatting to Kate and Nat between mouthfuls. I was right in the middle of chewing on a mouthful of chicken, when Kate elbowed me hard in the ribs. I shot her a look and swallowed my food. 'Ow! What was that for?' I asked, slightly annoyed. 'Lupin keeps sneaking looks at you..' She smirked, waggling her eyebrows. I almost choked on my drink, putting my goblet back down again. 'Shut up,' I laughed. 'You're kidding, right?' Kate shot me a look, and I felt my heart quicken at the thought of Lupin actually looking at me. I lifted my eyes away from my plate and up towards the staff table. Surely enough, it was clear that Lupin wasn't only looking at me, he was _staring._ I felt my stomach fill with butterflies, blushing furiously. He caught my eye and smiled awkwardly at me, making me blush even more. I grinned shyly back at him, neither of us looking away. I was positive that I could feel something there between us, but I wasn't quite sure what to do. I was brought back to reality with a bump by Kate nudging me in the ribs again. I had to look away now, so I turned around to find her sat there with a smug grin plastered to her face. 'You _fancy _him, don't you?' She whispered. 'No, what could possibly have given you that idea?' I mumbled, looking back down at my food. 'Come on, it's pretty obvious..' Kate replied, still grinning at me. 'Anyway, I might have the slightest feeling that he fancies _you_, too..' 'Oh, come off it!' I laughed nervously, twirling my fork in my hands. 'What would make him fancy me of all the girls in here?' 'Don't ask me!' Kate laughed too. 'But he clearly does, considering the fact that he still hasn't taken his eyes off of you just yet, and he's got a pretty dreamy look on his face for a bloke while he's at it!' I turned back around again for a moment purely to see if Kate was right, and he was in fact still staring at me. I glanced at the look on his face and I couldn't thinking to myself that he looked pretty damn adorable. 'Okay, so maybe you're right..' I sighed, giving in. 'But what am I supposed to do now? It's not exactly approved of if a teacher and their pupil start having a relationship, is it?'

'Well, no.. But I'm not saying I'll tell anyone if anything _does_ happen..' Kate smirked, winking at me. I rolled my eyes and laughed. 'Nothing's gonna happen anyway, it's still wrong even if we do fancy each other!' I exclaimed. 'Yeah, you say that now, but just you wait until our first DADA lesson..' Kate grinned, the same devilish look appearing in her eyes.


	3. Chapter 3

Three.

For the first time in years, Remus slept peacefully, dreams floating through his head calmly. When he woke up, he couldn't work out what was different about the day before. Then he saw the girl, and he remembered. A sleepy smile crossed his face, until he remembered that she was most likely going to be one of his _students_. The pleasant bubble of blissful happiness that had surrounded him suddenly burst and he felt slightly irritated with himself, but more confused than he had been before he'd gone to bed the previous evening. He sighed to himself, sat down and attempted to clear his mind before heading down to breakfast. After brushing his teeth, getting dressed and quickly checking his reflection in the mirror, he walked out of his bedroom, through his office and out into the corridor. Tired but excited looking students were walking in groups with their friends both in front and behind him.

Remus yawned sleepily just as he reached the entrance to the Great Hall and two girls turned around, smiling at him. He smiled awkwardly back at them, then suddenly realised that it was the blonde girl and her red haired friend. A wave of embarrassment washed over him and he felt his heart speed up slightly. 'M-Morning,' he stammered, pushing the doors open to allow them through first. The blonde's face turned bright red and her friend elbowed her in the ribs, grinning. 'Good morning, sir!' The redhead replied cheerfully, slipping through the door and dragging her friend along with her. Remus shook his head and walked inside, closing the door behind him. He followed the two girls down the aisle in the hall until the brunette that they were sat with at dinner the previous evening called out 'Kate! Rels!' The pair of them then went and sat down beside her, and Remus made his way up to the staff table. He muttered 'morning' to his colleagues as he sat down, avoiding their eyes. A plate containing bacon, eggs, baked beans and sausages appeared in front of him almost immediately and he tucked in. He made sure that he didn't look anywhere near Hufflepuff table, as he knew that he'd just end up looking at her, plus he didn't exactly want to feel any more confused about what this feeling was than he already was at that moment.

Just as he'd finished eating, Minerva McGonagall walked down the staff table, giving out everyone's timetables for the year ahead. She smiled sleepily at Remus as she placed his down on the table in front of him, his empty plate vanishing. 'Thanks,' he said, then examined his timetable.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Timetable: _Professor Remus John Lupin – Defense Against the Dark Arts._

Mon: FREE|Seventh Years|Fourth Years|Third Years|_Lunch_|FREE|Third Years

Tues: Sixth Years|First Years|FREE|Second Years|_Lunch_|Seventh Years|Seventh Years

Wed: FREE|FREE|Fourth Years|First Years|_Lunch_|Third Years|Fifth Years

Thurs: Seventh Years|Fifth Years|Second Years|FREE|_Lunch_|Sixth Years|Sixth Years

Fri: First Years|Third Years|Fourth Years|Second Years|_Lunch_|Seventh Years|FREE

Remus was quite relieved to the fact that they'd given him a free period first thing several days during the week, given that Dumbledore knew about his condition. He also noticed that he had at least one free period every day, which was even better. He scanned down Tuesday's column to see which classes he'd be teaching that day. _Not too bad, _he thought to himself, smiling. He'd already known what he was going to do in his first Sixth Year lesson, so he asked Professor Binns for permission to use his classroom then. Luckily, Binns had a free period anyway, so he said yes. Remus said his thanks and got up, heading down to his classroom. Once he reached the door, he pulled out his wand and unlocked it, stepping inside. Sure enough, the box that was about the size of a wardrobe was placed behind the door in the same place he'd left it when he'd unpacked yesterday, and Remus smiled to himself. Fortunately for him, Binns' classroom was pretty much directly opposite his, so he levitated the box and carefully placed it down beside Binns' desk.

Remus checked his watch and found that he had just a couple of minutes before the bell would ring and his first class would be waiting outside the classroom door. So, in order to pass the time, he sat down at his desk, rummaging through each one of the drawers to check that all of his possessions were in the right places. Surely enough, this seemed to fill the time reasonably well, as the next thing he knew, the bell rang and the corridor outside the classroom seemed to suddenly spring to life. Remus stood up and walked towards the door, looking out to find his class stood outside, waiting for him. 'Ah! Come in!' He exclaimed, walking back in and standing by the board. He watched the class file in, noticing that there was around an equal amount of boys and girls. He glanced towards the door to see if there was any more of the Sixth Years in the class, when that same blonde and her red-headed friend casually strolled in through the doorway. Remus heard the blonde mutter something along the lines of 'I'm gonna hate you for this' to her friend, neither of them noticing that he was stood right in front of them. 'Sorry to interrupt your conversation, girls, but you two were very close to being latecomers.. Sit down, please.' As he expected, the blonde didn't say anything and the redhead piped up 'Sorry sir, won't happen again.' Once the two girls had sat down, the class began to whisper to one another. 'Okay, settle down please!' Remus called. The class promptly fell into silence and he looked around at the sea of faces sat in front of him. 'That's better.. Well, welcome to NEWT level Defence Against the Dark Arts! As you already know..' He turned around to face the whiteboard and picked up a pen, scrawling his name on the board – 'I'm Professor Lupin, and I'm going to be your teacher this year. Before we get started properly, I thought we'd do a little getting to know you exercise and then we'll go across the corridor to Professor Binns' classroom, where I've got something set up for us.'

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><p>The class slowly filed out again in crowds and Remus felt extremely relieved that his first lesson as a teacher had almost gone as planned. However, his reflections on the lesson were cut short by the bottles of ink and his quills that were laid down on the desk falling onto the floor with a thunk. 'Shit!' A female voice exclaimed. Remus fought back the urge to laugh and he bent down to pick up the ink and quills. 'It's alright, I've got it,' he grinned. He appeared to be too late though, as instead of his hand clasping onto a bottle, it was curled around a small, pale hand. Whoever this was, the skin of her hand felt cool and smooth beneath his and she had long, delicate looking fingers. 'Um..' Remus looked up to find Aurelia's brown eyes fixed on him, chewing on her bottom lip. Both of them felt the sparks flying in the air around them, and they just knelt there, both of them examining the other's face. Strangely, Remus felt the urge to keep his hand exactly where it was, and to reach out with the other, running his fingers over the skin of Aurelia's cheeks.<p>

He looked at her more intently, his eyes drinking in every inch of her milky white skin. She had a small, turned up nose and high, sculpted cheekbones. Her chocolate brown eyes were framed with long, golden eyelashes and there was a smattering of light freckles spread across the bridge of her nose and her cheeks. He curled his other hand up into a fist and firmly pressed it onto the floor beneath him to prevent himself from reaching out and touching her face.

Aurelia's eyes skimmed over every detail of Professor Lupin's face, biting down even harder on her lip to stop her mouth from breaking into a huge smile. He still hadn't moved his hand away from hers and she liked it. His hands were big and warm, so much so that if he ever held her hands properly, they'd pretty much cover hers completely. He was the complete opposite of her looks-wise, as he was tired-looking with tanned skin and grey eyes. He had multiple scars scattered all over his face and hands. She couldn't help wondering what had caused them, as it must've been quite bad.

They both looked back into each other's eyes again and a powerful urge to kiss one another washed over the pair of them. Aurelia opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. Remus moved his hand up slightly, so that the tips of his fingers were resting on her wrist. He looked down at his hand again for a moment, then back up at Aurelia. Just the way that she was looking at him made him nearly completely forget about the boundaries that completely ruled out things like this, and he leaned in, ignoring the nagging voice in the corners of his mind. He was past caring about how wrong it was, he just needed to have the feeling of her lips on his for the first time. His face inched closer and closer to hers, and they both closed their eyes. Just as their lips were about to finally meet, someone cleared their throat.

Panic spread through both of them, and they looked towards the door. Thankfully, it was Kate who was stood there, smirking at them. 'It's alright, I knew there was something there straightaway last night.. Something was bound to happen anyway,' she laughed. Remus and Aurelia exchanged a look, the pair of them blushing. Kate laughed again and Remus subconsciously tightened his hold on Aurelia's hand, looking into her eyes for a moment, before turning his head back to face Kate. 'How did you know?' He asked, trying not to smile. 'Because I'm clever like that,' Kate grinned, tapping her nose. 'Anyway, we might have a free now, but we _really_ do need to unpack, Rels.'


	4. Chapter 4

Four.

**A/N:**_ Just a quick note, sorry that I haven't updated for ages! I was on holiday for two weeks, so I could only get access to to write this when I'm down at the restaurant/cafe where I was staying, so it took ages to write. On another note, this fic is named after the song by Coldplay, as I'm just getting into some of their older stuff and as soon as I heard it on Parachutes, it reminded me of this! So yeah, it then gave me a name for this fic! This isn't related in any way to the book with the same name.. This chapter's a bit of a gapfiller though, as I've got some ideas planned for the next two! Anyways, thank you so, so much for the story alerts, adding it to favourites and of course, the reviewers! I really appreciate it, I honestly didn't think anyone would read this! This chapter's for all of you guys!_

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><p>Professor Lupin took his hand away from mine and we both stood up. He retreated back to his desk, whereas I headed towards the door, stopping in front of Kate. 'Come on, then,' Kate said, grinning like the cat that had the cream. I just nodded, the pair of us beginning to walk down the corridors towards our common room. My head was swimming as I went over what had happened back in the classroom. I had almost kissed my <em>teacher<em>, for God's sake! ..No, wait. He'd leaned in to kiss _me_.. I felt my head beginning to throb with pain and I wrung my hands together, worrying. 'Rels, are you alright? You look a bit ill..' Kate said, sounding concerned. 'Yeah, I'm fine. I'm tired, that's all,' I replied, lifting my hand up and pushing my hair out of my eyes. I'd be more than happy to talk to her about this at some point, but not right now. I'd need to sort things out in my head first, to at least understand what all of this meant. We walked the rest of the way to the Hufflepuff common room in a comfortable silence. We gave the statue the password and stepped inside. It was fairly empty, seeing as only Sixth and Seventh Years got free periods, so all of the younger students in our house were in lessons.

Kate and I made our way up the stairs and into our dormitory, where Nat was laid on her bed, waiting for us. 'You two took your time!' She laughed. 'Well, Miss Flynn here had a bit of an encounter with a certain somebody, didn't you?' Kate grinned again, nudging me playfully in the ribs. Nat's eyes widened and she sat up, leaning forwards. 'What happened?' I felt my already bad mood worsening and I sat cross-legged on the floor. It was pretty obvious that they'd been talking about what had happened last night while I was asleep. I gave Kate a look as if to say 'you explain all of this', then folded my arms and looked down at the floor.

Kate launched into a detailed explanation of what happened, causing both her and Nat to have massive, smug smiles on their faces. '..And then, he just gave her this _adorable_look, closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss her!' She concluded. By this point, my face was the colour of a ripened tomato and I was absent-mindedly playing with the hem of my skirt, feeling extremely awkward and embarrassed. 'So we were right!' Nat laughed. 'Oh, and by the way, you totally owe me two Galleons.' I looked up, slightly annoyed. 'Wait a minute, you two placed a bet on this?' 'Yep!' Nat grinned. 'And I won!' Much to my own surprise, I laughed along with them. 'I can't believe you two! I thought we said no more betting on stuff like this!' 'Well, we just couldn't resist, could we?' Kate smirked. I looked up at the pair of them and shook my head mock-disapprovingly, laughing even more.

The three of us just sat there laughing for a few moments, until something crossed my mind. 'So d'you think he fancies me, then?' I asked, frowning. Kate and Nat looked at me as if I was mental, and I took this as a no, until – 'Merlin's beard, Rels! The bloke went to _snog_ you, of bloody course he fancies you!' 'Well he might not do, some guys snog girls just for the hell of it..' Kate and Nat gave me yet another look and I raised my eyebrows. 'He really doesn't seem the type for that.. He's a grown man for Merlin's sake! Plus he kept staring at you when we were writing down some stuff on Boggarts..' Kate replied, smiling at me. I didn't say anything back and instead sat there in silence, trying to take in what Kate had just said. I now felt even more confused than before, so I decided to change the subject. 'I s'pose we'd better get unpacking, hadn't we?' I mumbled, pulling my trunk out from underneath my four-poster. Kate and Nat clearly caught onto the fact that I didn't want to talk about what had happened with Professor Lupin anymore, as they both sighed and I could hear them pulling out their trunks, too. 'Rels, have you got your E-Pod or whatever it's called?' Nat asked me. 'Course I have!' I grinned. 'We need _some_ kind of music to listen to while we unpack, even if it is my absolutely fabulous taste in Muggle stuff.. Oh, and it's called an iPod, Natty,' I giggled, pulling out my iPod Touch from my trunk.

Despite the fact that electrical stuff wasn't supposed to work inside Hogwarts, Nat, Kate and I had bewitched my iPod in our first year to provide us with some entertainment if we needed it. I placed the iPod on my bed, pulled out the earphones and plonked myself down on the bed beside it. I scanned through my music and looked up, smiling at Nat and Kate. 'Coldplay?' I asked then, knowing exactly what their answers would be. 'Of course!' They exclaimed in perfect unison, making me smile even more. It had taken me quite a whole to get them used to the idea of Muggle music, but we seemed to fall into a routine of blasting Coldplay whever we were unpacking. 'Hey, they bought out a fantastic new song in the summer, I'll play that..' I said, touching the screen. Kate had cast the usual charms around the room already which ensures that it was only us three who could hear the music. Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall began to play and I slid off my bed, quietly singing along to myself as we began to unpack.

Once the song had finished, I hauled myself back up onto my bed for a moment. 'Right, which album d'you want to listen to?' I asked, glancing towards Nat and Kate, who were sprawled out on the dormitory floor. 'Parachutes!' Nat exclaimed. 'I _love_ that album.' 'Parachutes it is, then!' I grinned. I selected the album and hit play. Don't Panic started to play and I slid back onto the floor, smiling. 'Aah, now that's more like it,' I said, carrying on with my unpacking. Time flew by, as the three of us sung our hearts out to every single one of the tracks as we unpacked, and thankfully, we finished with some songs left to spare. We all lay back on our beds, still singing. I paused for a moment, absent-mindedly playing with my robes. 'What've you guys got next?' 'Transfiguration with you,' Kate replied, sighing. 'I bet McGonagall will give us a pile of homework at the end of it!' 'Herbology,' Nat said, grinning. It was her favourite subject, and she'd passed the OWL with flying colours last year. 'Right..' I frowned, checking my watch. 'We've got ten more minutes left, wanna go down to the common room for a bit?' 'Nah, I've still got more unpacking to do,' Nat said, gesturing to the small pile left still in her trunk. 'I'll come,' Kate grinned, giving me a look which I instantly knew meant that she was bursting to talk about what had happened between me and Professor Lupin. 'Alright, see you later then Nat!' I shouted over my shoulder as we made our way down the dormitory stairs and into the common room.


	5. Chapter 5

Five.

**A/N:** _Just a quick note because I forgot to mention this in the last chapter: rather than being set in the 1990s like the books, I'm setting this fic in 2011. Also, I finally got an idea for the plotline for the next few chapters while I was finishing this off last night so hopefully I'll be able to write it all out as I've planned. _

* * *

><p>Kate and I hurried down the dormitory stairs which led directly into the common room in a comfortable silence. I sneaked a look at her and I could immediately tell that she was bursting with excitement about what had happened back in the classroom with Lupin, and that she was pretty desperate to go through it in immaculate detail. I smiled to myself, knowing perfectly well just how excited she got about anything that involved me having some kind of a love life. I stifled a giggle as I remembered what she was like when I started to show an interest in Oliver Wood, the captain and Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team, last year. We reached the bottom of the stairs and walked through the door, into the common room. We headed for our favourite seats beside the fireplace and collapsed into them, smiling.<p>

'So come on then! What was it like?' Kate asked, grinning from ear to ear. 'What was _what _like?' I replied, pretending to be completely oblivious. 'Almost snogging Lupin, what else would I be on about?' Kate said, rolling her eyes. I felt my face turn bright red and a flashback of what had just happened ran through my head. I could see his eyes examining my face and I blushed even more, making Kate laugh. 'I can't really describe it!' I grinned. 'All I know is, it felt extremely wrong, but so right at the same time, d'you know what I mean?' Kate nodded, still smiling. 'So you're saying that you're _glad_ I interrupted it?' 'Maybe,' I mumbled, looking down at the floor. 'I mean, yes I do like him like that, but he's my teacher, for Christ's sake! If he was normal, then I would've happily snogged him senseless!' 'But he _is_ normal, though!' Kate laughed. 'Anyways, you two looked bloody adorable together.. I'm actually beginning to wish that I hadn't interrupted you!'

I must've looked completely gobsmacked, as Kate burst into a fit of giggles. 'Oh, lighten up a bit! I wouldn't be at all surprised, though, if you two did start seeing each other by the end of the term!' She said, grinning sneakily. 'Are you mental or something? I can't just go round snogging my teacher, even if I _do_ fa-..' _Shit_. I quickly closed my mouth as I realised what I was about to say. Kate leapt up from her chair triumphantly. 'HA! So you _do_ fancy him, then!' My face then turned the colour of a ripened tomato, much to Kate's delight. She sat back down in her chair, smirking. I gave her a look and pulled my robes up around me, letting my hair spill over my shoulders and my fringe falling into my eyes, embarrassed. 'Oh, stop it!' Kate grinned. 'It's pretty damn clear that he fancies you too, so why not go for it?' 'Why not go for it? Didn't you hear a word of what I said a few minutes ago?' I cried, my voice going up several octaves in pitch. 'One: he's my teacher, for fuck's sake! Two: If we did 'go for it', then there's an incredibly high chance of getting caug-' I got cut short by Kate placing her hand over my mouth, still grinning. 'Shut up, I reckon you and him would be perfect together!' She exclaimed, winking. 'And anyway, if you were to get together, you know I'd never tell anyone!' 'You're never gonna let go of this, are you?' I sighed.

* * *

><p>The rest of my first day back went really well. I had double Charms, which was always my favourite subject, and I seemed to be off to a good start for NEWT level already, according to Professor Flitwick. Transfiguation wasn't anywhere near as difficult as I'd originally thought, and History of Magic wasn't as boring as usual. Despite Kate pestering me all day about the whole Lupin situation, I made a point of avoiding looking anywhere near his direction during lunch and dinner, but I could still feel him staring at me. 'Ooh, you're in for it now!' Kate teased, laughing. I gave her an annoyed glare, but she just took no notice as per usual. 'Christ, can't he take his eyes away from you for more than five seconds so that we can eat in peace? Honestly!' 'Nat, you're <em>really<em> not helping..' I grumbled as I pushed my food around my plate. I looked up and met Lupin's eyes for a brief moment, then looked straight back at my food again, my cheeks growing hot. Nat and Kate burst into a fresh fit of laughter at my embarrassment and I looked up at them, glaring. 'Yeah, cheers for the support guys!' I scowled. I soon regretted saying it though, as this just took Nat and Kate's teasing to a whole new level. 'Oh, we know who can support you, all right!' Kate laughed, making my cheeks turn an even deeper shade of red. 'Is he still looking?' I mumbled. 'No, luckily for you!' I heard Nat say. I breathed a sigh of relief and carried on as if things were back to normal.

Inside my head, however, I was split between pissed off and confused. I mostly felt pissed off with myself, because I'd almost let him kiss me. I mean, come on! Who just sits there and lets their brand new professor put their hand on top of yours and keep it there, intently look at your face and go in to snog you, even if you do have a small crush on him? You'd know that it'd fuck with your feelings even more if you let him do that, even if you were gonna regret it later on? Because he's the teacher and you're the pupil. Simple! But no, I couldn't even get that part right. I was always thinking over the consequences of my actions before I did things, so where on Earth did that go earlier? Instead, I'd acted like a right prat by getting 'caught in the moment', as some people would say, and didn't move myself away from him! Which then led to confusion, seeing as I felt my feelings for him intensifying immediately after all that had happened. I also felt incredibly confused over the fact that when Kate had appeared in the doorway, I noticed that he looked.. Disappointed. As if he'd be willing to jump the humongous barrier that restricted anything happening between us. In a way, this made my heart skip a beat whenever I thought about it, but the inner, normal Hufflepuff in me was scolding myself for feeling that way. What if something happened? He could easily be fired if we got caught and I could be expelled!

Once I'd finishd eating, I stood up. 'I'm off to meet Deann to see how her first day went, see you guys later!' I mumbled to Nat and Kate, perking up a bit. Deann was my little sister, who'd just started her first year at Hogwarts. She'd been sorted into Ravenclaw, as despite showing many of the same Hufflepuff qualities that I did, she was incredibly intelligent and always came top in her classes at Muggle school. Both being Muggles themselves, my parents were incredibly surprised to have not one, but two witches for daughters. They were both Irish, hence Deann and I having Flynn as our last names, but had come over to England when they were young and met a short while later. As you can tell, they were both fond of Latin names for some reason. Aurelia is the Latin for golden, which summed me up pretty well hair-colour wise, and Deann was the equivalent of Dianne, which means divine.

Anyway, I'd wandered up to the Ravenclaw table at lunchtime and arranged to meet Deann in the library after dinner, just to see how her day had been. I made my way towards the double doors of the Great Hall, but not before having another quick glance back at Lupin. He was looking downward at first, but his gaze flickered upwards and his eyes met mine. He gave me what seemed like a gentle, caring smile, which made me go weak at the knees. I shot him a nervous, yet pleasant one back and carried on walking. I internally cursed myself as I already hated what these stupid feelings that I had were doing to me.


	6. Chapter 6

Six.

The next couple of weeks went extremely quickly. Remus threw himself right into teaching his DADA classes, and he loved every second of it. Yes, of course there had been a few problems with some students, but according to Dumbledore he handed them all very well. He was always waist-deep in marking and lesson plans, but he didn't mind that at all. He felt like he had finally found the right job for him, which was brilliant. He was also found that he was teaching Aurelia's sister, Deann, who was in his class of First Years. Deann was the spitting image of Aurelia, apart from that rather than having the same chocolate brown eyes, she had bright blue ones, but both girls were incredibly intelligent. Things had been slightly awkward between Remus and Aurelia since they had almost kissed the other week, so he decided to keep his distance a bit.

However, despite trying to do this, he still found that he was beginning to feel even more attracted to her than he had before. He often caught himself staring at her for no apparent reason during mealtimes, and his eyes always seemed to flit back to her every time that he taught the Sixth Year class that she was in. Sometimes he'd catch her looking at him too, or she'd look up and meet his eyes when he looked at her. When either of these things happened, he always felt a huge spark jolt through him, which made him feel extremely annoyed with himself. What on Earth was he doing? She was eighteen years younger than he was, plus she was his student!

As that particular class of Sixth Years filed into the classroom one afternoon during the third week of September, Remus was sat down at his desk. He welcomed them all with a smile, even though he was starting to feel a bit ill. The full moon fell on the Friday night of that week, and he knew that he'd just have to persevere until Thursday. He still felt a pang of self-loathing every time he thought about what he became every time the full moon came around, but he quickly dismissed it from his mind. He needed to get on with the lesson, no matter how irritable and tired he was feeling. He watched his class come in through the door in small friendship groups and sit down in their usual seats. He wasn't particularly bothered about latecomers, as he thought it fair to start the lesson once everybody was sat down, so the class usually happily chattered away to one another, the odd one or two approaching him to explain which of the students wouldn't be able to make it to the lesson and why.

Remus's eyes flickered over to the door as he heard a familiar pair of voices coming from down the corridor. As their footsteps drew closer and closer, he couldn't help smiling. Their voices were usually so loud that he could hear everything that was being said as they approached the classroom door. After about ten seconds, Kate and Aurelia walked through the door, quite clearly deep in conversation. As they made their way inside, Remus couldn't take his eyes off Aurelia. He felt an unfamiliar heat prickling up his neck and his hairs stood on end. Both her and Kate were dressed like any Sixth Year girl would: the first two buttons on their shirts undone; their ties worn in a loose, short knot; the sleeves on their grey v-necked jumpers rolled up to their elbows and wearing extremely short skirts. It was a fairly warm day, so he'd decided to keep the curtains open and the windows slightly ajar. Kate and Aurelia sat in their usual seats right near to the front of the classroom.

A few more students walked into the classroom, but Remus couldn't tear his eyes away from Aurelia. The seat that she was sat in was right beside one of the windows and the sunlight poured in, giving her long, poker straight bright blonde hair a whole new shine to it. Her hair was tucked neatly behind her ears, revealing the pale, creamy white skin of her neck. To him, she took the word gorgeous to a whole new level. The top button of her shirt was undone and the collar was pushed aside slightly. Part of her collarbones were peeking up at him, and _oh_, she just looked so appealing to him. A different kind of frustration twisted at his insides, and he snapped himself out of it by averting his eyes away from her. Blocks of shame and anger at himself hit him, and he was feeling rather confused. What the fuck was wrong with him? _Nobody_ should ever have thoughts like that about one of their students!

He sighed to himself, trying to think cheerful thoughts. He was doing a job that he loved, all of the staff had been incredibly kind to him (apart from Severus of course, but that was a whole other story) and he was living in what had been his second childhood home for seven years. He felt the smile appear back on his face and he stood up to address the class.

* * *

><p>The lesson went extremely slowly for Remus, seeing as he was finding it increasingly more difficult to keep himself from staring at Aurelia. He still got slightly annoyed with himself for only just being able to tear his eyes away from her after shooting her a warning glance for whispering loudly to Kate. Even then, he couldn't hide a slight warmth creeping into his eyes as he did so. He'd already decided that in the weeks before each full moon, he'd set all of his class tests. This was mainly because he needed his rest and he felt he'd also be able to catch up on any essay marking or planning his lessons. He then wouldn't have to be on his feet as often as usual, yet he could still keep an eye on his classes. Of course, as soon as he'd let his Sixth Year class know that they'd be having a test, a collective groan rose from every single one of the students. Remus couldn't help laughing, and he reassured them that he wouldn't be making the questions too difficult.<p>

Once he'd collected their essays in for him to mark, Remus made his way around the classroom to hand out the sheets of paper with the questions that he was testing them on. He felt his stomach beginning to do somersaults as he got closer and closer to where Aurelia was sat. He placed the paper down in front of Kate, then right as he reached out and placed Aurelia's on the desk, she moved her hands forwards to collect it. Her hand landed straight on top of his, sending tingles right up his arm. That same flush crept up his neck and he couldn't take his hand away. Her palm felt cool and smooth on top of his and she bit down on her bottom lip, looking up at him innocently. This really didn't help him, as he realised exactly how much he wanted her, and it scared him. At that thought, he quickly drew his hand away and instead shot her a nervous smile as he moved onto the next student.

Remus handed the rest of the question papers out as fast as he possibly could, then collapsed into his seat by his desk. After he'd instructed the class to start, he grabbed the small stack of essays and began to mark them. The room had lapsed into a comfortable silence, with the exception of the students' quills scratching at the parchment as they wrote. He tried as hard as he possibly could to nudge thoughts of Aurelia out of his mind as he marked, but the thought that she was sat there right in front of him meant that some still managed to seep through. He was really beginning to worry about how he seemed to be developing feelings for her after _teaching_ her for three weeks. The wolfish part in him (which was obviously more dominant at the moment) was desperate to act on them but his sane, normal self was constantly warning him and reminding him exactly how much trouble he'd get in if he did it. It felt like his head and his heart were in a war, and he couldn't stand it. He squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, putting his head in his hands. What was happening to him?

He took several deep breaths, regaining his composure, and looked up at the class to find that they were all still scribbling away. He smiled to himself, then got back to work.


	7. Chapter 7

Seven.

The test seemed to go really well for me. Thankfully, all the revision that I had done had really paid off, as I knew all of the answers. What confused me though, was how I seemed to be so keen to do well in order to impress Lupin. A relationship between us was completely forbidden, but something deep down inside of me wanted something to happen between us. It really scared me, and I still couldn't help feeling something every time our hands touched or when I caught him looking at me. Once I'd finished writing my answers to all of the questions, I looked up at the clock to find that there was still 20 minutes left of the lesson. Everyone else was still writing and I had nothing else to do. I packed my ink, spare parchment and quill away then gazed back at the front of the class. Lupin was sat down at his desk, marking the essays we'd handed in at the beginning of the lesson.

I could tell that he was concentrating pretty hard on what he was doing, as he was intently reading over the handwriting that was currently on the piece of parchment in front of him. His grey eyes quickly darted from left to right, and he appeared to be smiling. His hair was hanging over his eyes, giving me the urge to get up and carefully brush it away. There was something so entrancing about him that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I shuddered, bringing myself back to Earth with a bump. _No_, I mentally scolded myself. _Being this attracted to your teacher isn't a good idea at all._ Despite my annoyance at myself, I still couldn't tear my eyes away from Lupin. Just as I mustered up the self-control to tear my eyes away he tilted his head up, catching me staring. I saw some kind of emotion flicker in his eyes, and he gave me a smile that made me melt inside. I bit down hard on my lip, glancing back down at my parchment.

* * *

><p>I was the last to leave the classroom as Lupin was handing everyone their essays back and I wanted to speak to him about mine. I still had a few issues over what I'd written, and I needed to tell him. Kate gave me a sly wink and a playful nudge in the ribs as she walked past me. I fought back the urge to laugh because I found the thought that she was most probably coming up with some kind of plot to get Lupin and I together really funny, even if I wasn't quite sure if I wanted that. I wandered up to his desk to find him stood there, smiling at me. 'Professor, I need to talk to you about my essay.. I've got several problems with what I've written,' I said plainly, absentmindedly playing with my tie. Lupin stared at me for a moment, then raised his eyebrows. 'Really? I was going to say that it was absolutely fantastic! I've given you an O for it,' he replied, sounding very surprised.<p>

I looked at him, bewildered. 'Th-Thank you..' I stammered. 'You're most welcome,' he smiled. He picked up my essay from his desk and walked round to where I was standing, handing it to me. I felt the exact same spark that I did every time our hands touched, but this time I felt something more there. I looked up to find Lupin's grey eyes skimming all over my body, and I self-consiously pulled my skirt down a bit. His hair fell in front of his eyes and without thinking I reached up and brushed it away. His eyes flickered back up to my face as I moved my hand down, cupping his cheek. I gently ran my thumb over the soft, puckered skin there and he made some kind of soft, quiet noise.

He put the essay back down, then carefully wrapped his arms around my waist. He gently tugged me in closer to him so that our bodies were touching, and I had never felt any more safe before. We were still looking right into one another's eyes and before I knew it, he bent his head and moved it swiftly towards mine. I closed my eyes, keeping my hands right where they were. I then felt him pressing his lips to mine. This was exactly what I had been wanting, I realised, so I gave in and kissed him back. It was a sweet, delicate kind of kiss, too. His lips tasted like chocolate and coffee, even if they were slightly chapped. I moved a hand away, trailing my fingers up the back of his neck and tangling them in the fluffy, golden brown hair at his nape. I began to carefully play with his hair, and he deepened the kiss.

I had been kissed a couple of times before, but neither of them measured up to this. We were kissing passionately now, and he was nibbling at and flicking his tongue over my bottom lip. I couldn't help myself from moving in even closer to him and pressing my body up against his. He stopped what he was doing for a moment and groaned loudly into the kiss. All of a sudden, I realised exactly what was happening and I immediately pulled away, feeling guilt right spreading through me. What had I just done? I was pressed right up against my DADA teacher, and we'd just snogged one another like there was no tomorrow. I shook my head in disbelief and backed away from him. 'Professor, that was wrong on so, _so_ many levels..' I mumbled, unable to look up into his eyes. _But I really liked it_, I added on inside my head. 'I need.. I should go.' Before he even had the chance to open his mouth, I grabbed my essay from off of his desk and ran out of the classroom, down the corridor.

I had to go and tell Dumbledore about this. Right _now_.


	8. Chapter 8

Eight.

I walked down the corridor as fast as I possibly could, my head all in a spin. I was so lost in my thoughts that I ended up almost crashing into someone. 'You should watch where you're going, Miss Flynn,' a low voice told me. I looked up to find that I'd almost just bumped right into Professor Snape. 'S-Sorry sir, won't happen again..' I mumbled. 'Good. Now tell me, what exactly are you doing roaming the castle? You should have been in your common room ten minutes ago.' Snape sneered. 'I was going over my essay with Professor Lupin,' I explained. I was half-lying, but I really hoped Snape would believe me. 'He was giving everyone's back at the end of class a few minutes ago.' For a moment, Snape paused to consider my explanation. 'Is that so?' He said, eyeing my face suspiciously. 'Tell me, Miss Flynn, why exactly are your lips swollen to twice their normal size?' I frowned, prodding my lips. _Shit_. 'I, um.. I tried a new spell out and it went wrong, sir,' I lied. 'Well, let's hope that it doesn't go wrong next time - and I _will_ be talking to Professor Lupin about this. Now, hurry along to your common room before I change my mind about not giving you detention.'

I nodded and mumbled my thanks, then carried on down the corridor. 'Oi!' I heard someone shout from behind me. I turned around to find both Kate and Nat stood in one of the doorways, looking at me expectantly. 'And where exactly have you been?' Nat smirked. 'Uh..' I turned bright red, not sure what to say. 'Oh my God, you were with Lupin, weren't you?' Kate squealed, beaming. I turned an even darker shade of red and they grabbed my arm, pulling me into the next room. 'So go on then, what happened?' Kate asked. 'He gave me my essay back,' I replied plainly. 'Yes, and what else?' '..Andhesnoggedme.' I muttered under my breath. 'He _what_?' Nat exclaimed. 'He.. He snogged me.' I bit my lip and glanced down at my feet for a moment. 'Ha!' Kate grinned triumphantly. 'I told you they would eventually!' 'I have to tell Dumbledore,' I said. 'Are you mental or something? Not only will you get yourself into a huge amount of trouble, but you'll get the best DADA teacher we've had fired!' Kate cried. 'But I can't just leave it as it is!' I replied, sitting down on a table and putting my head in my hands. 'I feel something for him, Kate, and I'm scared. Him kissing me like that just made me even more aware of it.'

'But what's that got to do with telling Dumbledore?' Nat asked quietly. I just sat there for a moment, thinking about it. 'Nothing,' I sighed, giving up. I took my head out of my hands and stood back up. 'Come on then, what was it like?' Kate grinned, lightening the mood a little. 'What was what like?' I smirked, playing dumb. 'Snogging him, what else would we be on about?' Nat said playfully. 'It was bloody _incredible_!' I beamed. 'He did this amazing thing where he kept switching between nibbling my bottom lip and-' 'Okay, slightly too much information!' Nat interjected, laughing. 'You should tell him how you're feeling next time you see him, though. He should know.' Kate pointed out. 'No way!' I shook my head rapidly. 'It's just a stupid, pointless crush. It'll fade soon..' Both Kate and Nat gave me a defeated look and I sighed. 'Alright, but I still think I should leave it for a little while, okay? I need to see what happens in our next DADA lesson first.'

* * *

><p>Later on that evening, I was curled up in one of the common room's armchairs by the fire. I'd just come back from dinner, which was almost as bad as what had happened after Lupin and I had kissed. I was rather happily talking to Nat and Kate about something else in order to try to forget about it, but then I saw him walking into the Great Hall out of the corner of my eye. I promptly fell silent and I turned around slightly where I was sat. As he walked past me, he automatically gazed downwards at me and I felt my stomach fill with butterflies. I met his eyes with mine as he walked a little bit further down towards the staff table. Neither of us seemed to be able to tear our eyes away. 'Oi!' I got pulled back to reality by Kate elbowing me in the ribs with a grim look on her face. 'What?' I asked, turning back round to face her. 'Hate to burst your bubble, but Snape happens to be looking right in yours and Lupin's direction.' My eyes flitted towards the staff table and sure enough, Snape was glaring right at me with a look of suspicion on his face. 'Great. This is exactly what I need right now,' I complained.<p>

Lupin obviously hadn't seen Snape watching, as he continued to occasionally glance in my direction throughout dinner. For some reason, I wanted to return the eye contact but I avoided it, knowing I couldn't. I instead chatted away to Nat and Kate again as I ate, wishing that none of this had ever happened in the first place. Once I'd finished, I immediately got up, mumbling 'see you later,' to the girls.

I walked out of the Great Hall as fast as I possibly could, until I heard a warm, gentle voice calling out my name right after I'd closed the doors behind me. Oh, how bloody brillant. 'Yes, sir?' I sighed a I turned around to find Lupin standing incredibly close behind me. His arms were dangling awakwardly by his sides, as if he wanted to put them around my waist but had decided against it at the last minute. 'We, um.. We need to talk.' He replied, almost whispering. He had his head tilted down towards mine and I could practically taste his breath on my lips. I shivered, feeling the urge to close the gap and kiss him again. 'A-About what exactly?' I stammered, suddenly very aware of how high pitched my voice had gone. Lupin didn't get the chance to reply, as out of nowhere, a voice said 'well, well, just the man I was looking for.'


	9. Chapter 9

Nine.

Just seeing Aurelia actually making eye contact with him after what had happened between them made Remus feel an awful lot happier than he had after she'd ran out of the classroom. He still couldn't get over how he'd actually had the nerve to kiss her, and she'd kissed him back! Well, before she realised what she was doing, that is. He'd then spent a few minutes pacing his classroom, trying to work out exactly what he was going to do about it. In the end, he decided that the best option was to find Aurelia and to speak to her about how both of them were feeling, hopefully ending up with a mutual decision.

Remus still couldn't take his eyes off of her throughout dinner, even if he did feel slightly disappointed that she didn't look in his direction at all. He could only guess she was still feeling a bit awkward after their kiss earlier on, and he completely understood that. He kept looking over in her direction so that he could get up and seize the opportunity to speak to her when she had left the Great Hall. Thankfully, this didn't seem to take long as she appeared to be in a bit of a hurry to finish eating and to leave. He glanced up right as she was reaching the double doors and he quickly put down his knife and fork, excusing himself from the table.

He powerwalked down the middle of the Great Hall, through the doors and out into the corridor. He could see Aurelia walking in front of him, so he called out her name. She spun around, looking at him with a reproachful expression on her face. 'Yes, sir?' She sighed. At this point, Remus began to feel desperate to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her in for another kiss, but he knew he couldn't. 'We, um.. We need to talk.' He lowered his voice so that if anybody came out and saw them together, they'd never be able to hear what was being said. He couldn't resist tilting his head down slightly, only leaving a small gap between the two of them. He could see every inch of her perfect face and smell the sweet scent of her perfume. 'A-About what, exactly?' Aurelia squeaked. He was about to explain, but a cold, familiar voice came from behind them. 'Well, well, just the man I was looking for.'

Remus quickly moved his head away and turned around to find Severus Snape leering at them. 'S-Severus,' Remus said, trying to make his voice sound fairly pleasant. 'What can I do for you?' 'I'd appreciate it if I could have a word with you.. In private.' As if to emphasise the last part of what he'd just said, Snape threw a look at Aurelia, who then piped up 'I'd best get back to my common room.' 'Okay, well try not to worry too much over that essay, I thought it was outstanding,' Lupin replied, hoping she'd play along with it. To his relief, Aurelia nodded. 'I'll try. Thanks again, professor.' She smiled at the two teachers before heading off down the corridor. As soon as she was out of sight, Snape shook his head disapprovingly at Remus.'I honestly expected you to know the boundries of student and teacher relationships, but quite clearly I was wrong.' 'What exactly are you talking about?' Remus asked, narrowing his eyes. 'Isn't there something you'd like to tell me, Remus? There appears to be something going on between yourself and Miss Flynn.' A malicious glint had appeared in Snape's eyes and Remus kept eye contact. 'I don't know what you mean.' He replied plainly. 'Is that so? Because I'm going to inform Albus of our.. _little chat_, and I'm sure he'd be interested to hear exactly what's going on here.' And with that, Snape abruptly turned on his heel, stalking off in the opposite direction to Aurelia.


	10. Chapter 10

Ten.

I had an awful lot of difficulty sleeping that night. I lay awake in bed way into the small hours of the morning, well after Nat and Kate had gone to sleep. My thoughts just kept running round and round in circles. Every time I closed my eyes, I could feel and taste Lupin's lips on mine. I knew that I really did like the kiss that we shared earlier on, and I would happily have done it again if I wasn't his student. It had felt so right, like we clicked together the moment that our lips touched. I curled up into a ball, shuddering as I remembered the sound he'd made when I'd made the mistake of pressing myself up against him while we were kissing. It still made me break out in goosebumps at the thought of it and I felt my stomach churn. What the bloody hell was wrong with me? I shouldn't have even kissed him back in the first place. _No, but you still don't regret a thing, do you?_ A voice inside my head whispered back at me. Oh God, what was gonna happen next? I was pleased that he'd came after me to speak to me about it before Professor Snape interrupted and sent me away. What had he said to Lupin? Had he twigged onto what happened between us?

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><p>Remus tossed and turned in his bed, desperately trying and failing to be able to get some sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about Aurelia, no matter how hard he tried. He knew that he'd really landed himself in trouble this time, kissing a pupil like that. There was no denying that he had pretty strong feelings for her, but he knew that he shouldn't have acted on them as it had made them even worse. He squeezed his eyes shut and put his hands over his face, desperately trying to push the images of her during the lesson earlier on out of his head. Despite what was right, he knew that he'd really wanted to go back and kiss her again when she had turned and left the room. He also wanted to blame all of this on the full moon being so close, but that was only the cause of how he'd felt towards her throughout class. All he could see where her pools of chocolate brown eyes the moment before he'd kissed her, and he could still taste her lips. He desperately needed to talk to her about this. Tomorrow.<p>

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><p>I must've got to sleep at some point, because I was rather rudely woken up by a jet of water being squirted into my face. This was shortly followed by the sound of sniggering coming from somewhere in the dormitory. I opened my eyes and glared upwards to find Kate and Nat stood right in front of me. 'Kate Barrows, I'm gonna sodding well kill you,' I grumbled as I tore back the covers. 'What makes you think it was me?' Kate replied innocently. 'Because I know that you can cast bloody good water spells,' I scowled, making my way towards the bathroom. 'You have to admit, she's got you there,' I heard Nat giggle. I glanced in the mirror and scowled even more. My face was dripping. The little makeup that I usually wore (and had obviously forgotten to take off last night) had run and smudged. I sighed loudly in annoyance and set about casting a spell to get rid of the residue makeup and dry my face off. Once that was done, I waved my wand again, neatening up my bed hair and re-applying my makeup. I usually did both of these the Muggle way, but I was in a fowl mood and really didn't have the patience to perfect doing them both by hand.<p>

I finally emerged from the bathroom to find Nat and Kate sat down on my unmade bed, looking rather concerned. 'Sorry about that,' Kate apologised. 'You know I was only mucking about, right?' I kept my expression neutral and nodded. 'Right.' 'What we really wanted to ask though, is if you're okay,' Nat said. 'You look as if you had no sleep last night.' 'How did you know?' Now it was _my_ turn to act all innocent. 'Well, the fact that you've got massive bags under your eyes is a bit of a hint..' Nat stated, folding her arms. 'Alright, I just.. I couldn't get the thought that I'd been snogged by my _teacher_ out of my head.' I muttered. The pair of them exchanged some kind of look that I couldn't quite work out, then stood up. 'C'mon, let's get down to breakfast,' Kate grabbed my arm, smiling sympathetically at me. One of the things that I loved about both of my best friends was that they knew exactly how to distract me if I ever had problems trying to sort things out in my head.

We walked down the corridors towards the Great Hall in a comfortable silence. We quickly went inside and found some seats at the table. 'Please, Merlin, don't let him be in here right now,' I commented as our plates appeared in front of us. I couldn't possibly last throughout breakfast at the thought of Lupin staring at me or trying to catch my eye whilst I ate. In fact, I didn't even want to face him at all until I'd worked out what on Earth I was going to do about everything. Kate and Nat remained silent, confirming the opposite of what I'd hoped for and giving me the impression that I wasn't having much luck with anything at all this morning. Brilliant. I fought back the temptation to put my head in my hands and was just about to get up and leave, when Sacha landed on the table. She was carrying two envelopes, both with familiar handwriting scrawled across them. I instantly recognised my mother's neat, elegant cursive on the smaller one and my Muggle best friend Georgie's on the other.

Georgie and I had met when we were about four or five, as we moved in next door to her. Her parents came round to introduce themselves and brought her along with them. We ended up going to the primary school and spent endless hours playing together. Once I'd got my letter for Hogwarts the summer before my eleventh birthday, I was gutted that she didn't get one, too. I hated the thought of being separated from my best friend, only being able to see her during the Christmas and summer holidays each year until I finished school. When mum and dad bought me Sacha to take with me, we vowed to write to one another every week, so that's what we did. I felt extremely happy, as we both then were frequently updated on how the other was doing. It wasn't the same as seeing each other face-to-face, but at least it was something. In her last letter, Georgie had explained to me how difficult she was finding her last year of GCSEs (the Muggle equivalent of OWLs, which took them two years to complete). I could sympathise with her, as this was exactly how I'd felt at the start of my OWLs last year. I'd sent her a reaussuring letter back, giving her as much advice as I possibly could with reguards to how to deal with the piles of coursework that she was getting.

I thanked Sacha and took the letters off of her leg, then gave her a couple of owl treats that I had in my pocket and my slice of toast. She nipped affectionately at my finger, flying off in the direction of the owlery with my toast in her beak. I really had lost my appetite and I pushed my food around my plate. 'Are you not gonna eat that?' Nat asked. I shook my head. 'Nope, 'm not hungry.' I pulled a face and pushed my plate towards her. 'You can have it if you really want. I'm going back to the dormitory until we have to go to lessons.' And with that, I promptly stood up and walked out of the Great Hall. I turned the corner and had got halfway down the corridor when I heard footsteps behind me.

'Aurelia!' They called out. 'What?' I turned around angrily, crossing my arms. 'We need to talk.'


	11. Chapter 11

Eleven.

My face fell I shook my head at Lupin, frowning. I really wasn't in the mood for this. I looked back up to find a confused expression on his face. He still had the same look of desire in his grey eyes that I'd seen right before he kissed me yesterday. 'I'm sorry, _sir_, but I should get back to the common room to collect my work for my lessons today.' He looked deeply into my eyes and put his hands on my waist, paying absolutely no attention to what I'd just said. His face was mere millimetres away from mine again and he pecked me sweetly on the lips, sending all kinds of tingles through me. 'Please.' A part of me was desperate to kiss him again but I knew exactly what the consequences of that could be. We could get caught, and there was no way I wanted that. I shot him a confused glare. 'What're you doing, Professor? You know how wrong this is.' My voice accidentally came out sounding ice-cold, which I didn't mean. He recoiled a bit and looked down at the floor, ashamed. I felt slightly guilty but at least I'd managed to get a bit of sense into his head. No matter how much I wanted him, I knew that it would be virtually impossible to be able to have him and keep it a secret.

'Well, I'll let you go on then,' he said, sounding a lot more teacher-like than he had before. I felt quite relieved, as if this was a sign that everything was beginning to go back to normal. I smiled weakly at him and nodded. 'Look, we can talk when I'm not being a grumpy arse like I am every morning,' I whispered calmly. He eventually cracked a small smile at me as I turned away. I quickly made my way down the corridor, subconsciously touching my lips. I then realised what I was doing and immediately stopped it. Once I was inside the common room, I ran back up the stairs to my dormitory straightaway and collapsed in a heap on my bed. Merlin, I was confused. I didn't have a clue what was going on between myself and Lupin, as one minute he wanted to talk to me and he was trying to kiss me the next.

After a couple of minutes, I could hear someone coming up the stairs. I opened my eyes, hoping it'd be either Nat or Kate. Thankfully, it was Nat who came through the door moments later. She must've seen the look on my face, as she sat straight down on the bed beside me. 'Stupid question I know, but are you alright, Rels?' She asked, sounding genuinely concerned for me. 'Not really, no,' I sighed. 'I just don't know what's happening.. One minute he's trying to kiss me, then the next he wants to talk! We shouldn't even _have _feelings for each other like this, he's my teacher for Merlin's sake!' I let out a quiet, angry scream, turning over and hitting my pillow with my fist. Nat didn't say anything for a moment, she instead pulled me up into a sitting position and gave me a hug. With that, I suddenly started to cry. Nat hugged me even tighter and rubbed my back. 'Shh, shh.. You'll work it out together, I know it,' she whispered comfortingly into my ear. 'It-It's not that I don't like kissing him or anything, I'm just so s-scared that we'll get caught if anything more happens,' I whispered back, tears still streaming down my face. 'I know, I know. But if you both want it, who am I to judge?' She frowned, thinking for a second. 'He wouldn't do anything to get you caught. You're both sensible, right?' I tried to take deep breaths in an attempt to calm myself down a little bit. 'I suppose so.. I don't understand how it can feel so right and yet so wrong at the same time, though.'

'Have you told him that?' Nat asked. I shook my head. 'No, because I was in a bloody terrible mood when he came after me a few minutes ago, so I basically told him to bugger off and he kissed me again. I feel a bit bad now, cause I rejected him straight after that and said we should talk when I'm in a better mood..' I let go of Nat and wiped my eyes, having finally stopped crying. 'Maybe you should just leave it until later on today to talk to him.. Try not to think about it too much, yeah?' Nat offered. I gave her a watery smile, nodding. 'That sounds like a good idea.' Nat pulled me into another quick hug, letting go with a smile on her face. 'Good girl. C'mon, we'd best get down to Transfiguration, hadn't we?'


	12. Chapter 12

Twelve.

**A/N:** _I know I've only just put chapter 11 up, but I started this off with no clue how to carry it on about an hour ago and here we are! This one just seemed to write itself!_

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><p>The rest of my day gradually got slightly better. I tried my best to clear my thoughts like Nat had told me to, and it seemed to have a really good effect on my schoolwork. I kept myself busy by scribbling down as many notes as I possibly could during my lessons, even in History of Magic which was incredibly out of character. Nat and Kate kept shooting me funny looks, making me laugh. Kate knew about the chat Nat and I had this morning and we had all agreed not to talk about the matter any further for the day. Luckily for me, we didn't have DADA at all that day. Despite my improved focus, I still think that I wouldn't have been able to take sitting in one of Lupin's lessons after what a fuss I'd caused earlier. I realised how silly I was being over all of this, and that it was something that we could easily sort out together. I'd been told that his office was right near to the library and this seemed to come in handy, as I was planning to head down to get some books out for my Charms essay. I could take a small detour either on the way there or when I was going back to the common room afterwards.<p>

I hadn't told Kate or Nat that I was planning to do this, as I figured that it'd be best just to see how it went, first. He might not even be in his office when I pass there for a start anyway. I still felt bad for acting like a complete bitch when he'd attempted to talk to me earlier on, but I knew that I had a justified reason for it. How could he have just expected me to want to talk when not even a day had passed since we'd kissed for the first time? I'd needed space to think and now that I'd had it, some of the confusion had melted away and everything made the tiniest bit more sense than it had before.

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><p>As soon as dinner was over, I hastily excused myself. I'd got as far as telling my two best mates that I needed to go to the library and neither of them were surprised in the slightest. I still had that slight studious, Ravenclaw quality in me that seemed to run in the family, despite being a Muggleborn, where I felt the need to at least start off any revision or essays I got the night they were set. I wandered the corridors with that same spring in my step that I got whenever I went to start studying. There was something that I loved about a sheet of fresh, clean parchment and my book and quill in front of me.<p>

I had got so wrapped up in my thoughts about what I was going to write in my essay that I didn't notice I had almost reached the library until I heard a familiar voice softly calling out my name. Sure, I'd only known him for three weeks, but just the sound of my name on his lips set my pulse racing. I turned around to find Lupin's head poking out of one of the doors on my left with a tired grin plastered to his face. 'Hello,' I couldn't help smiling widely back at him. 'Can we talk?' He asked quietly, still grinning. 'Of course,' I quickly walked back down the corridor until I got to his office door. I noticed that he looked just as tired as he had right at the beginning of term, but I didn't want to comment on it. He was stood extremely close to me again, enough for me to realise exactly how tall he was. His sandy hair fell into his eyes and we exchanged a shy look. After quickly looking around outside, he grabbed my hand and pulled me inside. He laced his fingers through mine as he closed the door behind us. His hands were big and warm and they seemed to fit mine just perfectly. He'd taken my other hand now too and was looking intently at me. 'Wh-What were we gonna talk about again?' I stuttered, meeting his gaze. He chuckled, moving in even closer to me. 'What happened between us yesterday,' he said lightly. 'Oh right, yeah..' What was going on with me? I seemed to have lost every single ounce of my brainpower once he was around.

'Look, I don't know about you, but I.. I have feelings for you, Aurelia. Strong ones at that.' Lupin confessed, a trace of a smile tugging at his lips. I felt my heart hammering in my chest as soon as those words left his mouth and I took a deep breath, squeezing his hands. 'I, um.. I feel exactly the same way,' I whispered. We both looked at each other in shock and disbelief. 'But what're we gonna do about it?' I asked. He paused for a second, thinking. 'I know it's a massive risk, but how about we try seeing one another and seeing how that goes?' He replied. I smiled properly at him. 'Yeah, that sounds good to me.'

Lupin lowered his head and kissed me. It was exactly the kind of kiss that made my whole body break out in goosebumps and I smiled into it. His took his hands away from mine, carefully running them all over me. I shuddered, sliding my own into his hair. I felt a little buzz run through me every time he ran his fingers over the skin that my clothes weren't covering. Merlin, this was perfect. We started to kiss more furiously and I parted my lips, allowing him to bite and suck at them as much as he pleased. I shuddered yet again as he bit down particularly hard on my bottom lip, flicking my tongue out over his top one. He then opened his mouth fully and met my tongue with his. We kissed like that for a little while, until I felt the need for air burning in my lungs.

I reluctantly pulled away, both of us breathing heavily. 'Bloody hell!' I exclaimed breathlessly, grinning as I nuzzled his nose. 'You, sir, are a _fantastic_ kisser.'


	13. Chapter 13

Thirteen.

Remus smiled gently down at Aurelia, taking in her features. Her lips were a lot fuller from the amount of kissing they'd just done, and she had a pretty blush skittering across her cheeks. To him, she looked absolutely adorable. He couldn't resist pulling her into a hug and dropping a light kiss to her forehead. She sighed happily, wriggling about slightly in his arms.

Neither of them were quite sure how, but a short while later they were laid down together on the sofa in the corner of Remus' office, snuggling. Aurelia was resting her head on Remus' chest with her eyes closed, and Remus had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. He moved one of his hands up a little, beginning to rub lazy circles on her lower back. She squeezed her eyes shut even more when he did this, planting a kiss on his neck and sliding her own hand back into his hair. At first she ran her fingers through it slowly, then started to playfully twirl and tug at it. This made him rub her back even harder, smiling again. They just laid there in silence for a minute or so, until Aurelia opened her eyes and looked at her watch. 'Merlin, it's getting late!' She exclaimed. 'I really should head down to the library to get a couple of books out before it closes..' All Remus really wanted to do was keep her there with him for the rest of the evening, but he knew that that couldn't happen. 'Alright,' he sighed, gently kissing her forehead again. She gave him a quick peck on the lips in return before standing up and heading towards the door. He followed suit, trying not to wince as he got up. His limbs were already beginning to ache because of how close the full moon was and he could feel the self-resentment building up inside of him again.

There was absolutely no way that he was telling Aurelia about his.. _condition_ because he knew exactly how she'd react, after several bad experiences with ex-girlfriends. Besides, what did she even see in him in the first place? He couldn't bear to look at himself in the mirror these days, as all he could see was what a monster he was. That question was right on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't bring himself to ask her it. He must've had a spaced out look on his face, as he suddenly heard her asking if he was alright. 'Oh! Yes, I'm fine,' he tried to put on a convincing smile and stepped a bit closer to her. 'And whenever we're alone, call me Remus.' Aurelia nodded, smiling back at him. 'While I'm here, which books would be best for me to use for writing the essay?'

Before Remus could answer, the office door swung open and Snape stepped inside, holding a smoking goblet of Wolfsbane potion. 'Well, well, Miss Flynn.. What a surprise to see you here,' he drawled, his voice filled with sarcasm. 'You'd think that there might be something.. _going on_ between the pair of you, if you're not careful.' Deciding to completely ignore the previous comment, Remus took the potion from Snape. 'Thank you, Severus,' he said pleasantly. Snape just gave them both a suspicious look and swept back out of the office, slamming the door shut behind him. 'Don't worry about this,' Remus said quietly to Aurelia. 'I've not been feeling particularly well recently, and this is the only aid for it. Not many Potions Masters will make this at all, no matter how bad the person's feeling.' Aurelia was looking at him with a concerned expression on her face and he notice that she'd taken a step backwards. 'Don't worry, it's not contaigious at all,' Remus chuckled, taking a sip out of the goblet and pulling a face. 'Disgusting. Just as it alwa- Just as I expected it to be.'

A look of both confusion and concern appeared on Aurelia's face and Remus instantly regretted his almost slip-up. Had he said any more before catching himself, he could've been found out. 'Well, I'd best get going then,' Aurelia said quietly. Remus smiled affectionately at her, then leant in and gave her a light peck on the lips. Aurelia pulled away first, clearly trying not to laugh. 'You're right, that potion _is_ disgusting!' With that, they both erupted into a silent fit of giggles. Once they'd both stopped laughing, Remus leant in again and repeatedly pecked Aurelia on the lips, each kiss longer than the last. Soon enough, they were kissing properly again. Her hands were in his hair and his arms were wrapped snugly around her waist. The kiss was getting more urgent by the second and when Aurelia pulled away, they found themselves right over by the sofa again. 'Feeling better now?' She smirked. 'Much,' Remus grinned.

They both exchanged a secretive smile and Aurelia gave his hand a gentle squeeze. 'I really should go,' she mumbled, still running her free hand through his hair. 'See you tomorrow?' 'Yeah,' Remus nodded. He knew that he wasn't going to be feeling well enough to even be going down to breakfast, but telling her that would just make her even more suspicious of him than she already was.


	14. Chapter 14

Fourteen.

After yet another short but sweet kiss, I left Remus' office and walked back down the corridor to the library. As I pushed the doors open, I could see someone familiar sat in my favourite seat by the window. I felt my heart leap a little at the sight of them, but I mentally scolded myself for it. I'd only just agreed to start seeing Remus, yet my heart skipped a beat when I saw someone else? This wasn't good. I swallowed hard, taking a deep breath when I reached where they were sat. 'Kate and Nat said you'd be here,' Oliver said quietly, that same grin that I used to love appearing on his face. 'You were looking for me?' I frowned. 'Yeah,' he sighed. 'Listen, I know it's been a while since we were..' He trailed off, looking a bit uncomfortable. 'But I just need to do this.' Before I had the chance to move, he kissed me. Every instinct I had was screaming at me to pull away, but I couldn't help old feelings rising back up inside of me again and I kissed him back. Eventually though, I pulled away and stared at him, shocked. 'What was that for?' 'Just to say I'm sorry for hurting you.' I shook my head. 'And _I__'__m_ sorry, Oliver, but I can't do this.'

I turned and headed straight back towards the door. There was no way I could stay in here, not with him sat in my place after what he'd just done. I felt so guilty already. Less than five minutes ago I was kissing Remus.. What was I supposed to do? The right thing would be to tell him, but that meant that he'd probably take it the wrong way and end things before it'd barely got started. Then again, I'd still feel terrible every time we're together if I didn't tell him. I pushed the library door open and stepped outside into the corridor. This was so bloody typical of me to manage to get myself into this much of a mess after not even a month of being back at school. I thought about what I was going to do all the way back to the common room, and I eventually reached the decision that I needed to tell Remus what had happened. Firstly though, I had to explain mine and Oliver's relationship which lasted throughout the whole of last year. He'd ended up finishing with me because this year, he wanted to 'focus on winning the Quidditch cup and getting decent grades in my NEWTs'. It had hurt, to tell you the truth. I completely understood the NEWTs thing, but using Quidditch as part of the excuse? Not exactly the best way to make someone feel any worse. I knew that Remus would probably think it immature and stupid of me to have got upset over something like that, but it had explained why Oliver had kissed me in the library.

The main worry on my mind though, was that he wouldn't understand how bad I'd felt afterwards. Of course, I wouldn't tell him about how I thought some of my old feelings for Oliver were going to resurface again because of that kiss, as I wanted to be with Remus more than anything else. No matter how stupid and wrong it was supposed to be. Putting the whole Oliver thing aside, I couldn't help grinning as I thought about what an amazing kisser Remus was, and how he'd been the one that suggested we tried seeing each other. The only difficulties with that would be the whole sneaking around thing, and how we'd have to try really hard during my Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons with him every week to act like teacher and pupil, not like we were almost.. _together_. I had to admit, it was definitely going to feel weird calling him sir or Professor Lupin.

What had got me confused though was how after Snape had given him that smoking potion and left, Remus had almost said that it always tasted disgusting. It was as if he'd been ill with whatever it was several times before, if not more than that. What on Earth could be wrong with him to have to take something that tasted _that_ bad? I'd got a slight twang from it when we'd kissed after he'd taken that sip. I recognised the properties of that potion too, and I was sure that we'd studied that a few years ago in both DADA and Potions. _I should tell Nat and Kate about it_, I thought to myself. _Maybe they'd know. _


	15. Chapter 15

Fifteen.

Once I'd got into the common room, I ran up the stairs and into the dormitory to find Nat and Kate sat on my bed, chatting. They both gave me curious looks as I sat down beside them. 'You took your time!' Nat exclaimed. 'Did you stay there until it closed or something?' Kate added. 'Not exactly, no..' I muttered. The pair of them exchanged a look, raising their eyebrows at me. 'Go on..' Kate grinned, sounding interested. I then went on to tell them about almost everything that'd happened with Remus and I (I left out most of the kissing parts, as they both clearly knew that would've happened anyway) and all about Oliver kissing me like that. Neither of them seemed surprised about the latter, which shocked me a little. The whole Remus thing, however.. When I told them about the potion, they both shared a look that I didn't quite recognise and said that that the potion did sound like something we'd studied before. Like me, they couldn't remember what the name or purpose of it was. The three of us agreed that when we got the time to tomorrow, we'd go to the library and attempt to refresh our memories.

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><p>I slept fairly peacefully that night, floating through several pleasant dreams. I felt a lot happier than I had the previous morning when I woke up, seeing as I'd been able to tell Nat and Kate everything. I didn't see Remus at all when we went down to breakfast, which led me to assume that he'd already eaten. The rest of the day zoomed by, and I longed for our double DADA lesson. When Kate and I walked through the door, however, we found Professor Snape sat at Remus' desk. 'What the hell's he doing here?' I hissed under my breath. 'Dunno, maybe Lupin's feeling really ill..' Kate whispered back. We quickly walked to the front of the classroom and sat down in our seats. Luckily, we were right on time, so we didn't get any points deducted.<p>

After taking away about fifty house points in total from people who arrived late, Snape stood up and glared at the class. 'Now, Professor Lupin is unfortunately too.. _ill_ to take this class, so I will be teaching you for both of these lessons,' he said with a sneer. A collective groan rose from everyone apart from the few Slytherins in the class. Snape then went on to take away even more house points and told us that we'd be learning about werewolves. 'But sir! That's Third Year stuff!' I protested. 'We've already learnt about them!' 'Five points from Hufflepuff for speaking out of turn, Miss Flynn,' Snape replied coolly. 'You should be paying extra attention, as I get the feeling that you of all people will benefit from this.' I frowned, confused. What in Merlin's name was he going on about?

I turned around slightly to notice Kate looking at me with a worried expression plastered to her face, making me frown even more. Snape had already written down on the board some of the same things we'd learnt in Third Year, so I grabbed my quill, ink and parchment from my bag and started to write. Snape droned on for what felt like forever, giving us all so much to write that my hand began to ache after about five or ten minutes. I looked up to find Snape glaring right at me when he began to talk about the Wolfsbane potion and I stared down at my parchment, slipping into a daydream. I got pulled back to reality by Kate nudging me in the rubs with a serious, worried look on her face. 'Wha?' I asked dumbly. Kate opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again. 'Nothing. Doesn't matter,' She mumbled, turning back to face the front of the classroom.

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><p>The rest of the double lesson dragged by. I spent most of my time wishing that I could just curl back up in my bed and sleep for a little while longer, as I felt incredibly tired despite the fairly decent amount of sleep that I'd got the night before. Unfortunately for us, Snape decided to set us an essay to do on werewolves as homework right as the bell went, meaning that everyone had to get their stuff back out and write it down before we could go. Kate and I breathed sighs of relief as we exited the classroom and headed down to the Great Hall for dinner, where we were meeting Nat. I was still trying to think what possibly could be wrong enough with Remus to make him miss a whole day of teaching classes, take a smoking potion that tasted bloody disgusting and having something wasn't contaigious at all. I told Kate all of this, but the only thing she said in reponse was 'Merlin, did you not listen to what Snape was saying to you earlier on?', which confused me even more. I just gave her a confused look as we walked inside, scanning the Hufflepuff table for Nat. Eventually, I found her sat in the middle of the table, surrounded by everyone else. Great. This meant that I'd have to wait until later on to tell her about what Snape had said to me in DADA.<p>

'Alright?' Nat grinned as we sat down. 'How did DADA go?' She asked, winking at me. 'He wasn't in, so we had Snape instead,' I replied plainly. Nat's eyebrows immediately shot up. 'And what did he say to you?' 'How d'you know that?' I stared at her, open mouthed. 'I could tell by the look on your face,' Nat laughed. 'It'd probably be better if we told you in a bit,' Kate said, giving Nat a pointed look and gesturing to the people who were sat near to us. What was going on with those two? 'Anyway, we need to go to the library after we've finished eating,' I said as mine and Kate's plates appeared before us. 'It's about what I told you about last night.' I lowered my voice, filling my plate up with food from the middle of the table.

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><p>A short while later Nat, Kate and I walked out of the hall and down towards the library. 'So what did Snape say to you then, Rels?' Nat asked. 'Well, he decided that we needed to go over what we learnt about werewolves in Third Year, so I told him we'd already done it and for he said that I needed to pay attention because he thought I'd benefit from it!' As soon as I'd said that, Nat and Kate exchanged that same look again. 'What is it with you two?' I snapped. 'Every time I mention Rem- Professor Lupin, you look at each other funny!' 'It's not that we don't like you two practically being together, we're just worried about you.' Kate explained. 'What if you get caught? Then what'll you do?' Nat added. 'I suppose you're right..' I sighed. 'I'll make sure that we're as careful as we can, I promise.' By this time, we had reached the library doors and the three of us went inside.<p>

We found out usual table and dumped our bags down, bagsying the chairs. 'Alright, so where do we start?' I asked as we looked around the vast amount of shelves stacked with books that surrounded us. 'Weeeell, maybe we should take a look in the Third Years' DADA books first?' Nat replied. 'Good idea,' I grinned. We eventually found a very battered copy of _The Essential Defense Against the Dark Arts_ and Kate carried it back to our table. 'If I remember correctly, the bits on werewolves should be on page 394, maybe we could have a look there?' I suggested, putting my bag down on the floor and sliding down into my seat. Kate opened the book and flicked through it until she landed on the right page. Her eyes skimmed over the text until she stopped and put her index finger down on the page. 'Here we go,' she mumbled. Both Nat and I shifted our seats in closer to get a better look. 'A potion has been created to help aid the werewolf when he has transformed, enabling him to keep his mind. This is named the Wolfsbane potion. Its' main properties are: a sour, bitter taste; smoking when freshly brewed and a murky brown in colour.' My mouth dropped open and I shook my head rapidly.

'No way,' I somehow managed to choke out. 'No _bloody_ way. He can't be, the full moon isn't even until tomorrow.' Kate and Nat were looking at me with somewhat blank expressions on their faces. 'The wolf usually needs to drink the Wolfsbane potion for up to a week before he transforms.' Nat continued, reading from the book. I wasn't really sure what to think so I just sat there for a moment, my thoughts going round in circles. It all seemed to make sense, but I didn't quite want to believe it. It wasn't that I was suddenly scared of Remus because he was a werewolf, I felt incredibly.. sympathetic towards him. The more I thought about it, the more I realised how obvious it had been that he seemed to dislike himself when we'd been laid on the sofa in his office together last night, as he had asked me several times if I was sure that I wanted to be with him and that I could easily have any of the guys in my year that I wanted.


	16. Chapter 16

Sixteen.

**A/N:** _I saw the word count for this chapter and I legit cheered! I've never actually written a chapter that's 2,000 words before, so I feel really pleased with myself! This was actually supposed to be the scenes for their first kiss in the early stages of writing this fic, but I wrote several different first kisses and eventually decided on the one that was in chapter seven. I did keep this though, because I wanted to adapt this one and add it in at some point and here we go! Again, I just wanted to say a massive thank you to every single one of you who read, review, favourite and story alert this because it really does mean an awful lot to me. _

_Just a quick warning though that updates might slow down a little as I'm in my last year of Sixth Form/taking my A Levels (which I think is the equiv of the American senior year? I dunno.) and I'm right in the middle of applying for university, so coursework and exams could quite possibly get in the way of my writing time. _

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><p>I still found it difficult to get my head around what Nat, Kate and I had discovered in the library. I wasn't sure if we were even right or not until I noticed that Remus wasn't in the Great Hall during any of the mealtimes on Friday, nor did I see him around the castle throughout the day. I couldn't bear to imagine what that must feel like, having to go through all of that pain only for one night per month.<p>

I set off to the library early Saturday afternoon, deciding to skip lunch. I felt that needed some quiet time away from everything, and reading at least some sort of book always seemed to help me. As soon as I'd reached the library, I greeted Madam Prince and flung my bag down on my favourite chair by the window, claiming it. I then set about in the 'Muggle fiction' section, hoping to find something new to read. One of the classics, preferably. I was feeling quite homesick, like I always did throughout the first month of a brand new school year. I was up to my elbows in assignments and research already but I desperately needed to get away from everything, at least for a little while. Most especially that I was tremendously attracted to my new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and we were practically in a relationship now. I shook my head, picked out a small pile from the classics shelf, walked back to my chair and settled myself down in it, sighing heavily. I placed the books that I'd just picked out on the windowsill, then rummaged around in my bag for my iPod. Muggle music always seemed to help ease off my homesickness, too. When I had finally found it, I sat back up and looked around, double checking that nobody was around who would be able to notice what I was doing. The coast was clear, so I slid the white earbuds into my ears and flicked through the contents of my music collection.

I eventually settled on the best rock music that I had on there and put my iPod into my pocket. I pulled my robes around me so that the white wires wouldn't be visible to anyone. I picked up the book at the top of the pile, rolled my sleeves up to my elbows and began to read, getting completely absorbed in it like I always did, no matter what book I was reading. I did get slightly annoyed though when I heard somebody open the door and walk inside, proceeding to begin whispering loudly to Madam Prince. I recognised the voice, but I couldn't quite work out who it was. Thinking it must've been someone in my house, I didn't bother looking up and continued with my reading. The whispering stopped after a moment and my annoyance melted away as I sat there, contentedly soaking in the words on the page in front of me.

The next thing I knew, I could feel someone sat down beside me. I felt their extremely warm skin on mine and I blushed, not wanting to look up just yet. 'Good book?' A soft, gentle voice asked me. It was the same person that I heard a few minutes ago, and I placed my thumb in between the pages I was reading so that I couldn't loose my place. My eyes flitted to my forearm, where a familiar hand was laid on top of it. Electricity ran up and down my arm and I didn't move, just lifted my head up to find Remus' eyes on me, smiling. My eyes scanned over his face and I noticed some fresh scars there. He looked tired, to say the least. My face turned an even deeper shade of red, making him laugh. I nervously bit my lip and he lifted his hand slightly, moving it down my arm and resting it on top of my hand. He purposely only lifted the palm of his hand as he did so, the tips of his fingers trailing down my arm. I broke out into goosebumps at the feeling of him touching my arm like that, almost shivering. I looked up at him properly to find that his face was incredibly close to mine again, just as it had been the other day. I felt the same sparks flying in the air and I felt an overwhelming surge to kiss him. But that was impossible, seeing as: one, it would be in front of everyone in the library and two, I wasn't quite sure if kissing him in public was a very good idea anyway, no matter where we were. He still hadn't moved his hand away from me and his gaze was still upon me, keeping the colour of my cheeks at an alarming shade of pink.

'Miss Flynn, are you alright?' Remus asked, a coy and slightly flirtatious smile playing on his lips. I nodded my head rapidly. 'I'm f-fine, why wouldn't I be?' I mumbled, embarrassed. Remus didn't say anything in reply, he just started to playfully stroke the back of my hand with his thumb. 'Uh..' I made some kind of stupid, surprised squeak and he raised his eyebrows, smirking. 'W-Won't somebody see this?' I said, panicking. 'No,' he replied, moving his hand a little and dipping his thumb down, touching the skin on the inside of my wrist. 'Not if you don't want anyone to.' He was being extremely flirty with me and I was quite taken aback, not sure what else to do other than to flirt with him too. Regaining my composure, I smirked back at him. 'Well that depends on what happens next, doesn't it?' Pretty much as soon as I'd said that, he turned my hand over and laced his fingers through mine. Butterflies formed in the pit of my stomach and I put down the book that I was still holding onto. I took a deep breath and reached out, touching the side of his face that nobody could see with my hand. A smile crossed his face, and I couldn't refrain myself from cupping his cheek in my hand. I loved the warmth of his skin against mine, no matter how much my conscience was screaming that we could easily get caught.

'C'mon, I know somewhere more private where we can go,' he whispered, standing up and letting go of my hand. I cautiously packed up my stuff and hastily followed him out of the doors and down a couple more corridors. 'Remus, I -' Right as I was about to explain how worried I was about everything that had happened between the two of us, he put a finger to my lips, moving closer to me again. His body was so close to mine that I could practically feel the heat radiating from it, and I completely forgot about my worries for that one small moment. I kept a neutral expression on my face, but looked deep into his eyes, fascinated. 'Just shut up and kiss me, will you?' He asked, smirking. 'H-Here? Won't someone catch us?' I squeaked, flailing my arms around awkwardly. 'Not here, no..' he replied. 'How about in there?' He pointed to a door directly next to where I stood and smiled. Yet again, my conscience tried to take over me to tell me what a massive risk I was taking, but I completely ignored it and pulled the door open. 'After you, then,' I grinned.

Remus let go of me and walked through the door, leaving it ajar for me to be able to follow him. I stepped through promptly after him and looked around at where he'd led me. 'A broom cupboard? Really?' I teased, laughing. He just shot me a shy look and I felt my knees go weak. I swallowed hard, closing the cupboard door with a quiet click. It was only very dimly lit now, but I could still make out the collection of scars that decorated my professor's face. I then suddenly realised exactly how small this cupboard was, because there wasn't even an arm's length of distance between the two of us. Remus reached out and placed his hands carefully on my waist, looking deeply into my brown eyes. I took a small step closer to him, then wrapped my arms around his neck. We were stood incredibly close to one another and I took one hand away from his neck for a moment, brushing his sandy brown hair out of his eyes. I moved my hand back, looking back at him to find him staring at me with lust. I shivered, leaning in a bit more.

Remus looked at me, flirtatiously quirking an eyebrow. I took a deep breath, then cautiously kissed him on the cheek. Despite its' scarred look, his skin felt soft and smooth. Something compelled me just to lean a bit more forwards and to kiss the corner of his mouth, so I did. I trailed light, caring kisses across his cheek until I reached the corner of his mouth. I heard him sigh happily and I looked at him to find that he was stood there with a blissful expression on his face. I closed my eyes and moved my face a fraction, then met his lips with mine.

We kissed slowly and delicately at first, until I unclenched my hands and tangled them in his hair. His lips were chapped, but he was an absolutely _amazing_ kisser. He opened his mouth slightly and caught my bottom lip, starting to suck at it. I made an approving sound and parted my lips too. He carried on kissing me, and carefully dipped his tongue into my mouth. I felt myself go weak at the knees and I met his tongue with mine. Our kiss became a lot more intense and I bit down gently on his bottom lip, knotting my hands even further into his hair. He made a quiet sound of approval and I could feel his arms around my waist, lifting me off the ground slightly. I smiled into the kiss, then, unaware of what I was doing, wrapped my legs around his waist, lifting my feet completely off the floor so that he was holding onto me, keeping us balanced. There was something about the way that he was holding me which made me smile even more. We were still tangled up in what seemed like an extremely passionate kiss and I took a hand away from his hair, moving it down slightly to delicately run my fingers upon the scars that were scattered all over his face. He appeared to quite like this, as he tightened his hold on me and began to kiss me so furiously and enthusiastically that I could feel my lips starting to swell up. I felt myself melting inside and I didn't want his lips to detach themselves from mine. I kissed him equally as enthusiastically back and moved one of my hands away from his face. I gently trailed my index finger down his throat, biting his bottom lip again. He groaned quietly into the kiss and I smiled, moving my hand down even further and grabbing hold of his tie, beginning to undo it.

Still kissing me, he kept hold of me and started to massage my hips. I finally took off his tie and set to work on the buttons of his shirt. I pulled away for a moment once I'd undone the first few buttons, pressing a kiss to the hollow part between his collarbones. He kept one hand where it was, sliding the other one up my t-shirt and stroking the skin of my back. I urgently moved my head up, kissing his Adam's apple to stop myself making any noise. 'You're bloody perfect,' he whispered before tilting my chin up and kissing me furiously again. I more than happily kissed him back, stopping what I was doing for a moment to rest both hands against his chest and give him a gentle push so that his back was pressed to the door.

My legs were still comfortably wrapped around his waist and he trailed his index finger right down my spine, proceeding to tug at the waistband of my jeans. It was then that I realised exactly what he wanted to do, so I promptly pulled away from the kiss. 'Remus, no,' I mumbled against his lips. 'We're going a bit too far here.' He nodded, seeming to understand. 'If you're not ready, then that's fine. I don't want to pressure you into anything,' he replied, nuzzling my neck and planting a kiss on my jawbone. I breathed a silent sigh of relief as he let me go, allowing me to place my feet back on the floor again. I immediately wrapped my arms back around his neck, lovingly running my hands through his hair. Merlin, it was so _soft_! I heard him moan quietly as I did so, making me grin. 'We really did go a bit too far this time, didn't we?' I smirked, standing up on my tiptoes to kiss his temple. Remus hummed in response, trailing kisses right down the side of my neck. 'What time is it?' I muttered. Remus lifted his head and checked his watch. 'Half past two,' he sighed. 'I should head back, Nat and Kate will be wondering where I am,' I said, pulling a face. Checking that the coast was clear through the keyhole, I gave him a long, lingering kiss on the lips before running a hand through my hair and heading out of the door. 


	17. Chapter 17

Seventeen.

As soon as the cupboard door had closed, Remus stood there for a moment, stunned. He could still taste Aurelia's lips on his and just thinking about how far they'd got in here sent a ripple of tingles through him and made his cheeks grow hot. Mentally shaking himself out of his trance and doing his shirt back up and putting his tie back on, he too checked that there wasn't anybody lurking outside in the corridor and exited through the door. He briskly walked back down to his office, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. He passed several clusters of students on his way and he sent a warm, yet friendly smile in their directions. Once he'd reached the door he breathed a sigh of relief, unlocking it then safely shutting himself inside. He wasn't exactly sure why he'd brought himself back there. However, there was a huge stack of marking that he'd managed to fall behind on, but when he sat down at his desk and attempted to make a start on it, he still couldn't get Aurelia off of his mind. It was clear to him that he'd really liked what had happened between them in that cupboard. It wasn't purely the thrill of potentially getting caught in that rather compromising position that he'd liked, but the the way he felt when her body was pressed right up against his and the way that she'd kissed his Adam's apple and the spot right in between his collarbones.

It wasn't just those things that he really liked about her. She was caring, hardworking and incredibly sweet. He really, _really_ didn't deserve her, not with what he was. He felt as if he didn't deserve anybody for that matter and he honestly didn't understand what she saw in him. She deserved someone her own age, not some old fool like him. _But __you __still __want __to __be __with __her, __don't __you?_ His mind whispered back to him.

* * *

><p>Remus returned to teaching has classes as usual on Monday. All of his classes seemed incredibly pleased to have him back, which made him smile. They also spent the first ten minutes complaining how Severus had been assigned as his cover teacher for both of the days that he was off, because he'd set them all extremely long essays to complete. However, what worried Remus the most was that Severus had given his Third Years a lesson on werewolves, setting them an essay on how people recognise and kill them. It was pretty easy for him to realise that at least <em>one<em> of his students would pick up on the fact that those so called 'symptoms' matched up perfectly to him. He hastily changed the subject, wanting to get them started on a lesson about Hinkypunks.

Overall, the lesson went well. The Third Years seemed fascinated by the Hinkypunks, like they had done with every other creature that he'd introduced to them so far. Despite being his usual enthusiastic self, Harry seemed to be a bit upset. Remus guessed that it might be because his broomstick had been smashed into pieces by the Whomping Willow during the Quidditch match at the weekend, meaning that he'd have to use one of the school's brooms. This didn't stop Remus being keen to go and watch Gryffindor's next match against Ravenclaw. He'd heard from the rest of the staff that Harry was an excellent flier, obviously inheriting this from James. Remus also felt that he ought to have a bit of a chat with Harry at some point, because he'd also been told that the Dementors at the match were responsible for the fact that Harry had fallen off of his broom in the first place. Remus was starting to become a bit worried about how the Dementors seemed to have an effect on Harry, so he thought it best to talk to him about this after the lesson.

Once he'd finished teaching, the class started to head off to their next lessons. 'Wait a moment, Harry. Can I have a word?' Remus called just as Harry had reached the door. Harry looked at Ron and Hermione, hesitating for a moment. 'Yeah, sure,' he eventually replied, walking back towards where Remus was stood, covering over the Hinkypunk's tank with a cloth. 'I heard about the match,' Remus said sympathetically. He turned back around again, starting to gather up his books and put them into his suitcase. 'And I'm sorry about your broomstick. Is there any chance of fixing it?' Harry shook his head. 'No, the tree smashed it to bits.' He sounded completely gutted, and Remus really did feel sorry for him. 'They planted the Whomping Willow the same year that I arrived at Hogwarts,' he sighed. 'People used to play a game, trying to get near enough to touch the trunk. In the end, a boy called Davey Gudgeon nearly lost an eye, and we were forbidden to go near it. No broomstick would have a chance.'

'Did you hear about the Dementors?' Harry asked shyly. 'Yes, I did,' Remus replied, looking at Harry quickly. 'I don't think any of us have ever never seen Professor Dumbledore that angry. They've been growing restless for some time.. Furious at his refusal to let them inside the grounds.. I suppose they were the reason why you fell?' 'Yes,' Harry nodded. He paused for a moment, as if he was thinking something over. '_Why_? Why do the Dementors affect me like that? Am I just-?' Remus shook his head, knowing exactly how Harry was going to finish that sentence. 'It has nothing to do with weakness,' he said sharply. 'The Dementors affect you worse than the others because there are horrors in your past that the others don't have. Dementors are among the foulest creatures that walk this earth. They infest the darkest, filthiest places, they glory in decay and despair, they drain peace, hope and happiness out of the air around them. Even Muggles can feel their presence, though they can't see them. Go too near a Dementor and every good feeling, every happy memory, will be sucked out of you. If it can, the Dementor will feed on you long enough to reduce you to something like itself - soulless and evil. You'll be left with the worst experiences of your life.'

Remus stopped speaking for a moment, looking at Harry meaningfully. 'And the worst that has happened to _you_, Harry, is enough to make anyone fall of their broom. You have nothing to be ashamed of.' Harry looked down at Remus' desk. 'When they get near me..' His voice cracked and he swallowed hard. 'I can hear Voldemort murdering my mum.' An overwhelming sadness swept over Remus and he felt his throat close up. Oh, Lily. She'd been there for him at a time that nobody else was, and she was the very first person who knew about his condition other than his family. She'd been so kind to him, so accepting. '_Don't let it consume you_,' she'd told him. '_It doesn't change who you really are in any __way_.' He felt so much sympathy towards Harry, as he'd completely missed out on what wonderful, loving people both of his parents were. They would've been so proud of him for growing up to be the brave young man that was stood in front of him right then. He reached out to grab Harry's shoulder, but then decided against it.

They both stood there in silence for a few seconds, but then; 'Why did they have to come to the match?' Harry spat out, sounding incredibly bitter. 'They're getting hungry,' Remus replied coolly, closing his briefcase. 'Dumbledore won't let them into school, so their supply of human prey has dried up.. I don't think they could resist the large crowd around the Quidditch pitch. All that excitement.. Emotions running high.. It was their idea of a feast.' 'Azkaban must be terrible,' Harry muttered. Remus nodded. 'The fortress is set on a tiny island, way out to sea, but they don't need water to keep the prisoners in, not when they're all trapped inside their own heads, incapable of a single cheerful thought. Most go mad within weeks.'

'But Sirius Black escaped them,' Harry said slowly. 'He got away.' As soon as those words had left Harry's mouth, Remus felt a bitter chill sweep through him. He couldn't even stand the thought of Sirius after what he'd done to Lily and James. All of those years of friendship, just to go and kill two of his best friends without a care in the world? Remus was so fuming inside, that he only just noticed in time that his briefcase was slipping off his desk. Clearing his mind of anger, he stood back up and looked back at Harry again. 'Yes. Black must have found a way to fight them. I wouldn't have believed it possible.. Dementors are supposed to drain a wizard of his powers if he is left with them too long..'

'You made that Dementor on the train back off,' Harry said suddenly. 'There are - certain defenses one can use,' Remus replied. 'But there was only one Dementor on the train. The more there are, the more difficult it becomes to resist.' 'What defenses?' Harry asked immediately. 'Can you teach me?' 'I don't pretend to be an expert at fighting Dementors, Harry - quite the contrary..' Remus said seriously. 'But if the Dementors come to a Quidditch match, I need to be able to fight them!' Harry protested. Remus hesitated for a moment, looking at Harry's determined face. He believed in Harry, he really did, but would a thirteen-year-old wizard be able to conjure a Patronus charm? He could always try. Harry clearly had a talent for Defense Against the Dark Arts. 'Well.. Alright. I'll try and help. But it'll have to wait until next term, I'm afraid. I have a lot to do before the holidays. I chose a very inconvenient time to fall ill.'


End file.

Harry Potter, Romance